HawaiiAthletics.com continues its series “H-Files”, which spotlights a student-athlete from one of UH's 21 intercollegiate sports. Junior libero Ali Longo of the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team is this week's student-athlete spotlight.
On growing up in Littleton, Colorado...
Growing up, when I was younger I always went skiing with the whole family and everything. As I got a little bit older I ventured into snowboarding, so we'd snowboard every now and then when we can up in the mountains. In the summertime up in the mountains we tried to go ATVing which is like four-wheeling around and throughout the trails. Just fun times up in the mountains and stuff.
On coming from Penn State to Hawai'i...
Coming from a great program like Penn State over to another great program like Hawai'i, it's easy because the girls and I both know what it's like to play at that high level, and I can bring different experiences from different games and different game situations at Penn State over here and bring them to Hawai'i and hopefully help out in different ways.
How your post season experience will help the program...
I think being able to bring NCAA Tournament time play here to Hawai'i is going to be really helpful. Obviously the girls have been in the tournament and have gone really far, so we're going to be able to use the past experiences in that aspect over here when we get further into post season play.
Your feelings after the first week...
After playing this weekend against Stanford and against the other teams, the crowd was incredible. It makes you a little more comfortable knowing what it's going to be like playing in the Stan Sheriff Center and getting that under our belt, but the crowd was awesome. It's a great environment to play in and it's just an incredible place to play.
What other sport would you like to try?
I used to play basketball and I used to play softball, so I think I would probably go with basketball at this level. Height doesn't help with that but I think that would be the other sport I would try to play.
On coming to Hawai'i...
The first few weeks here in Hawai'i were very different. I don't think it will be as much of a shock as it will be later on when no snow arrives ever, but it is fun to be here. The girls took me around Waikiki and I kind of got used to the whole beach thing because I don't really spend time at the beach, so it was fun in that aspect. It was warm and awesome.
On first experiences in Hawai'i...
One of the first weekends the girls and their families took us paddle boarding, so that's one of the experiences that I've had and I enjoy a lot. I think that would be something that I would hope to continue to do in my spare time. The girls took us out to the north shore. That was obviously beautiful out there. We went to Waimea Bay and one of the first things they made me do was jump off the huge rock out there, so that was fun. You get a little nervous up at the top there, but it was a fun experience and I got to hang out over there for the whole day.
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